Cooler Master Seidon 120M Review

Up Close: Cold plate and Radiator

The Aluminium Radiator of the Seidon measures 150.3x118x27mm so is just a fraction thicker than your average 25mm case fan and strangely a little narrower across at only 118mm. The two end tanks, with the tubing attachment end being a little bigger than the other give the radiator an overall length of 150.3mm, 35mm greater than that of a case fan. Aside from being extremely interesting, these measurements are critical to you if you are planning to put the rad directly inside the rear extract position with the fan internal to the radiator acting as a pushing extract. If that's the way you mount the set up, and it's the way we mount them, then make sure you have sufficient room at the rear of your case to do so. The tubing is connected to the rad on one side of the larger end tanks either side of the centre line. What we assume to be the manufacturers fill port lies to the far end with a tempting sticker urging us not to tamper with or remove it, although it does appear to be pointing at the space between the port and the tubing insertion. If you're looking for a quick way to void your warranty you just found it.

The rad has 12 visible water channels with no immediately obvious damage to the fins between them, We say this as it is not uncommon for rads to arrive with the consumer with bent or buckled fins. No such problems here then. There are mounting holes on both sides of the rad for the attachment of 120mm fans and Cooler Master have very thoughtfully included additional bolts in the accessories bags to enable this.

The cold plate although low profile looks quite rugged and chunky, with the Cooler Master name having the appearance of having been stamped into the back. Contained in all this chunkiness is a small blue LED which subtly lights up the back of the cold plate when the pump is running. The Tubing attaches via 90 degree elbows, with each elbow being able to rotate some 45 degrees in either direction. A smartly braided power cable exits the cold plate from the side of the cylindrical edge.

The circular copper contact plate is smooth, having a slight brushed look to it, and with 12 screws holding the assembly together we think the chances of a leak here are next to zero. Although circular the contact plate is plenty big enough to cover the heat plates of the CPUs specified.

I just do not get it. Why does everyone just use fan controllers and such when modern Motherboards have fan headers and heat sensors. Why can't people set a max CPU temp of say 60c and let the computer spin the fan up and down as the load changes? You could then alway have the lowest noise for a given temp. Seems like this should be an automated function.Quote

I just do not get it. Why does everyone just use fan controllers and such when modern Motherboards have fan headers and heat sensors. Why can't people set a max CPU temp of say 60c and let the computer spin the fan up and down as the load changes? You could then alway have the lowest noise for a given temp. Seems like this should be an automated function.

I can only speak for myself but I have yet to possess a motherboard that

has enough fan headers for my needs in the right locations and/or

provides enough power on its fan headers to power an array of fans,

provides enough power for a D5 pump (I know they can be hooked up to the PSU directly and the Vario can be adjusted without a fan controller, but it's much more comfortable not having to use the little nob on the pump's back, and yes, I do change my pump's speed from time to time, albeit not often) and

lets me define not only max temps but actual fan curves, because everything else is useless (to me, at least).

These are unlikely to change in the future. It's not really reasonable to build a M/B with 10 to 12 fan headers (which you can easily use with two radiators on push/pull or something comparable) or fan headers that can provide ~30 W of power for a pump (market is too small).

The fan curve thing should be feasible though, I'll admit. I don't want my fans spinning up to 100% when a certain max temp is hit, I want them to ramp up by maybe 20% to see if that's enough and then throttle down again.

If you look at a real fan controller like the Aquaero, that's a very complex tool. You don't just integrate something like that into a M/B. It is certainly feasible, but it would cost accordingly.

Overall I'd say cost is probably the reason why the M/B that fits my needs regarding fan control is unlikely to arrive any time soon, and as long as that I'll stick to fan controllers. Besides, I like fan controllers, they have knobs and buttons and displays and stuff Quote

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